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Vocab Chapter 7
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Pangaea | All the continents were once part of a super-continent. |
Continental Drift | Suggested that continents are in constant motion on the surface of earth. |
Mid-ocean ridge | The mountain ranges in the middle of the oceans. |
Seafloor spreading | The process by which new oceanic crust forms along a mid-ocean ridge and older oceanic crust moves away from the ridge. |
Normal polarity | Magnetized objects such as compass needles. |
Magnetic reversal | magnetic field reverses direction. |
Reversed polarity | a state in which magnetized objects would reverse direction and orient themselves to point south. |
plate tectonics | Earths surface is made of rigid slabs of rock or plates that move with respect to each other. |
lithosphere | The cold and rigid outermost rock layer. |
divergent plate boundary | forms where 2 plates seperate. |
transform plate boundary | forms where 2 plates slide past each other. |
convergent plate boundary | forms where 2 plates collide. |
subduction | The denser plate sinks below the more buoyant plate. |
convection | The circulation of material caused by differences in temperature and density. |
ridge push | Rising mantle material at mid-ocean ridges creates the potential for plates to move away from the ridge. |
slab pull | As a slab sinks it pulls on the rest of the plate |